Sometimes best advice is stay the course

September 19, 2011

I am a single mom, age 61. After my husband left, I successfully raised my three sons and got them all through college and married. Because of the vagaries of child support, I was not able to save much money while raising my children. In other words, I now have very little money in an IRA: $33,000, to be exact.

I am making about $47,000 now and have only myself to support. I have $14,000 in my emergency/money market account. I have no debts except a mortgage, on which I owe $45,000. Right now I am paying about $500 for my mortgage, plus insurance, and am prepaying an additional $300 each month. I own a 10-year-old car and will have to replace it eventually, but it may have five more years left with 100,000 miles.

I am putting about $3,000 yearly into my IRA. I do not have a retirement plan through work. As a teacher at a private school, I can and probably will work until I am 75. Then all I can think of to do is move in with one of my kids. What am I doing wrong, and what should I be doing differently?

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M.S., via e-mail

You asked, "What am I doing wrong?" I don't see that you are doing anything wrong. Often, one party or the other or both act irresponsibly. Clearly, that would describe your ex-husband ducking his responsibilities.

Whether you will have enough Social Security in savings when it comes time to retire, no one can say. It will be tight. You're fortunate to have a position that you enjoy and that you will be able to follow well past the traditional retirement age, other things like health being considered. You didn't mention how much your home is worth, but that will be an asset that likely will be paid for by the time you retire. I can tell you to live frugally and so forth, but you are doing that.

I don't think you are doing anything wrong. You should be congratulated on turning what was a difficult situation into a relatively positive one.